National Charter Schools Conference
Chicago, Illinois

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, addressed the leadership of the National Charter School movement and conference attendees at the 10th annual National Charter School conference recently in Chicago.  CEAM was there.  Arne gave a resounding call to the charter school movement leaders to make wide-spread the acknowledgement of the difference charters can and are making in the lives of the most under-served children in our country.

Here are excerpts from Secretary Duncan’s ‘4-Point Plan’ for charter school movement leadership:

Point 1

Create more schools for the most underserved: English-language learners, Special needs students and those who have been expelled.  Then do an extraordinary job of advancing these groups of children.

Point 2

Build stronger relationships at the state and national level with the Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and Civil Rights Organizations to dispel the perception that charter schools are adversaries.

Point 3

Change the charter school debate by collecting data and generating longitudinal studies, showing proper comparison of children served by charter schools vs. those who sought charter school alternatives, but were not able to gain entry.  He referenced Caroline Hoxby’s break-through study as a model.

Point 4

The charter school movement’s leadership must be courageous and establish criteria below which charter schools should cease to exist and be pro-active in the area of self-governance.  Though the leadership and the community itself does not hold the authority to close down ineffective charters, Secretary Duncan calls upon the family of charter schools to not tolerate unacceptable performance within their family of schools and their authorizers.  He wants a list of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ authorizers, along with minimum criteria for charter school performance and pro-active self-governance.

In closing, Secretary Duncan says to the charter school movement, “Your best are world-class.  Your best give me extraordinary reason for hope for public education in this country.”  Now he strongly urges the movement to step up their role of leadership and let this country know what they stand for.

(Link here)

From the Columbia Daily Tribune:

Mike Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri, has been tapped to work with former President George W. Bush on education reform issues.

The George W. Bush Institute announced the appointment of Podgursky and two other fellows to support the institute’s educational reform mission. Also appointed were Jay Greene of the University of Arkansas and Matthew Springer of Vanderbilt University.

Initially, the institute will work to find ways to improve the leadership of school principals and strengthen middle schools. Podgursky has studied teacher pay and retirement structures, school finance and school productivity.

The conference also served as a changing of the guard as Dr. Howard Fuller retired from the Board Chairmanship and Washington, D.C. reform activist Kevin Chavous moved into the Board Chair. Also, it was the first symposium for new BAEO President Kenneth Campbell. He was selected to follow Gerrard Robinson, who was appointed the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. One of the sessions at the conference featured both new leaders where they discussed their vision for the organization. The main topic was the expansion of BAEO, which will focus on a strategy of expanding into southern states where many African Americans are without education options. Both also made a commitment to increasing membership in the urban areas where BAEO currently has chapters.

Early identification and intervention is of critical importance, because autism symptoms are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, and therefore the continued lag in identification needs to be addressed as a public health concern so that children in the U.S. receive optimal early intervention services. Children in 2006 were being diagnosed only five months earlier on average than those in 2002, thus still missing the critical years of early intervention. Increases in prevalence among minority population were significant, with a 91 percent increase in Hispanic children and 41 percent in black non-Hispanic. There was a 55 percent increase in White non-Hispanic. Also, prevalence in boys was found to be 4.5 times higher in males than females. The report states one in 70 boys and one in 315 females have autism. The increasing numbers have long-term economic costs to the country, as autism is a chronic medical condition affecting people across the lifespan.

The Autism Society calls on the U.S. government to address the pressing need for community-based services to ensure a better quality of life for people with autism and their families and to increase funding for research into what factors put people at risk and treatments that will mitigate the severest medical symptoms affecting people with this chronic medical condition. Lee Grossman, Autism Society President and CEO has wondered about the government’s response time to this important problem: “The question still remains: How bad does it have to get before families receive appropriate lifespan services?”

The main subplot inside of the fight to save the program is a fight to restore scholarships for 216 students who were given scholarships through the program, then had them rescinded after Congress defunded the program. The Washington, D.C. chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) has created the website www.savethe216.com dedicated to the issue. The rally drew notable figures in politics and education such as House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, D.C. Council member Marion Barry, Ward 8 Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony H. Williams, a Democrat, and nationally noted education reform author and activist Kevin Chavous.

CEAM has previously blogged about why Missouri should care about this fight in Washington, D.C. and the benefits of the program to the students. This program, and other efforts in Washington, D.C., has been the epicenter of the education reform and school choice movement in recent history.

Supporters of this program have held multiple rallies at the Capitol and in front of the Department of Education. So far the group has had no response from the Obama administration, according to a quote from Virginia Walden Ford, Executive Director for D.C. Parents for School Choice, in today’s Washington Times.

“We’ve had no response from Secretary [Duncan] at all.” “The president said in May he would make sure the kids would be protected, but that, of course, has not been the case. The message to me implies that they don’t have any intentions of dealing with this program. It’s really confusing.”

If the Obama administration and Congress continues course and ends the program, expect the rallies and protests to continue. This program has proven to increase test scores and parent satisfaction with the program is high. It is a travesty, especially for the 216 students who had their opportunity taken away, for this program to be ended. The administration and Congress must put kids’ interests first and continue this program.

It may seem like a far-off problem: students in Washington D.C. public schools losing scholarship funds seems like small potatoes when Missouri has enough education challenges to concern itself with. But there are several reasons why this issue is important to watch:

We live in a mobile society. The problems of the District of Columbia don’t stay isolated within district boundaries: children who drop out are more likely to be convicted of a crime and more likely to go through periods of unemployed. The reverse is also true: everyone benefits from a graduate. High school graduates will earn more, enjoy more security, and contribute more to society and the economy. D.C. grads that come to work in Missouri will provide higher tax receipts and be more productive than their counterparts who didn’t graduate.

According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the lifetime economic loss from class of ’07 students who dropped out is a staggering $329 billion. High School dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than graduates. The American Youth Policy Forum states that even graduating 1% more men aged 20-60 would save the U.S. $1.4 billion a year in reduced costs associated with crime. High School dropouts contribute half as much in state and federal taxes as graduates. Victor Hugo said, “Whenever you close a school, you open a prison,” but it seems that the reality is far worse than even that desperate scenario.

On the other hand, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship is responsible for significant gains in reading levels. Voucher recipients across the country are testing better, making more significant gains than public school counterparts, and a report by John Robert Warren at the University of Minnesota showed that the proportion of voucher students in Milwaukee graduating rose from 62 to 85 percent from 2003 to 2007, compared to public school graduation rates increasing from 49 to 58 percent.

D.C. Scholarships are a shining example of the education reform states are being asked to pursue: a tested, successful innovation that was able to show student gains for a fraction of the cost of per-pupil spending in the public district. It’s also the school district at the heart of our federal government: as we’re looking to D.C. for leadership, we’d hope to see successful reforms emanating from D.C. Instead, Congress has pulled funding pending reauthorization.

Missouri can’t operate in a bubble when it comes to education reform, but instead needs to look at successful programs from D.C. and elsewhere, to share data, successes, failures and results reciprocally, and states need a culture of leadership that supports innovations that make strides in student success.

From Cato@Liberty

Federal studies show that the benefits shown by students in the D.C. Scholarship program are accomplished for a fourth of the cost of per-pupil spending in public education. The average tuition at the schools scholarship recipients chose to attend is $6,620. That is ONE QUARTER what the District of Columbia spends per pupil on education: a staggering $26,555.

Michael Steele on MSNBC Harball with Chris Matthews fights to preserve the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program:

Unfortunately, some districts have resorted to filing lawsuits to try to obtain more money instead of bringing new ideas to their funding streams. You need not look outside of the state’s borders to find two cases where districts have lost initial rounds of lawsuits attempting to increase funding through the courts. Two entities representing multiple school districts have sued the State of Missouri contending that the state’s funding formula is inadequate. The districts lost the suit at the trial level and have appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court. According to the Columbia Missourian “The long-running lawsuit has cost more than $5 million in public funds, with the state spending $2 million to defend the law and the various school groups spending well over $3 million to challenge it.”

A more recent failed attempt to stop funding losses through the courts was in Jackson County, MO where 11 school districts sued the county over property tax assessments. The lawsuit was dismissed and one participating district Superintendent has stated “right now the lawsuit is pretty much done.”

So now that it seems clear that the traditional ways of school funding are no longer working, what are some of the solutions? Working with private foundations is one option that seems to be developing. In Tampa, FL one school district has been asked by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to submit a proposal to execute a program designed to increase teacher effectiveness. According to the linked story, “districts in Memphis, Omaha, and Pittsburgh received similar requests, along with a group of Los Angeles charter schools.” Public school partnerships with private foundations have also had remarkable success in Chattanooga, TN, where scores at targeted schools out gained 90% of other Tennessee schools.

School partnerships with local businesses are also a growing trend and one that should be heavily considered. Denver Public Schools started the School Partners Program with the help of Qwest Communications and have now moved the program into the school district’s offices full time. The School Partners Program has expanded from 20 schools in its first year to 61 as of last November. About 50 businesses are involved, some of which partner with more than one school.

School funding is just one area where reform and innovative approaches like these are sure to continue to grow. School districts must look to these opportunities and partnerships in order to thrive, and possibly even survive. Failing to actively seek out funding and resources outside of the government and taxes is a formula for failure resulting in children being left behind.

The latest turn in the fight to save the program comes from a bipartisan group of Senators who have introduced the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act . The bill was introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Robert Byrd (D-WV), and John Ensign (R-NV) and would provide a 5-year reauthorization of the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which allows low income D.C. children, particularly those attending failing public schools, to obtain a voucher to attend private schools in the area.

The program is wildly popular with participating students and their families. Approximately 2000 people attended a rally on May 6 supporting the program where students, and their parents, who have received scholarships from the program spoke out and pleaded that congress continue the program. Students participating in the program have also posted online videos asking President Obama to pressure Congress to keep funding for the program. Furthermore, a recent Department of Education study shows that the program is effective in helping students and that parents of these students are highly satisfied with the program.

The fate of extending this program remains to be seen. The current students in the program will be funded through high school, but the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act , or another fix, would have to pass for the program to be reauthorized. Let’s hope that students and their families in Washington, DC will continue to have options outside of the failing public school system.

“Consistent with our decisions in [School Committee of] Burlington [v.Department of Education of Massachusetts] and [Florence County School District No. 4 v.] Carter,” Justice Stevens wrote, “we conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of private special-education services when a school district fails to provide a [free, appropriate public education] and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school.”

The ramifications of this decision could be felt for years to come as parents now have a precedent at the highest court in the land forcing public schools to pay for a student to transfer to a private school when the parent alone felt the transfer was necessary. This case revolved around the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but could be a sign of what the future holds for education reform. If this case clearly stated that no longer do students with disabilities have to be trapped in schools that are failing to meet their educational needs, how long before the court sets the same precedent for ALL public school students?

Many of these families could be helped at no cost to the school districts if their state legislatures would pass legislation allowing for scholarship tax credit programs. A successful example of these programs can be found in Florida, andIndiana recently passed legislation creating a scholarship tax credit program. Sadly, the Missouri House of Representatives deafeated legislation creating a program targeted at special needs students during the 2008 session. The same bill was filed during the 2009 session, but was never voted on after a committee hearing.

Undoubtedly, the floodgates will open for families who, for years, have battled with their school district for their special needs child to receive a free, appropriate public education as prescribed by law. The challenge, and duty, now of everyone in the education reform movement is to make parents of special needs children aware of this Supreme Court decision. We can no longer allow for these children to be trapped in failing and inadequate school districts.

“The prospects for women who are scientists and engineers at major research universities have improved, although women continue to face inequalities in salary and access to some other resources, a panel of the National Research Council concludes in a new report.”

In recent years “men and women faculty in science, engineering and mathematics have enjoyed comparable opportunities,” the panel said in its report, released on Tuesday. It found that women who apply for university jobs and, once they have them, for promotion and tenure, are at least as likely to succeed as men. But compared with their numbers among new Ph.D.’s, women are still underrepresented in applicant pools, a puzzle that offers an opportunity for further research, the panel said.

The panel said one factor outshined all others in encouraging women to apply for jobs: having women on the committees appointed to fill them.

In another report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Wisconsin reviewed a variety of studies and concluded that the achievement gap between boys and girls in mathematics performance had narrowed to the vanishing point.

“U.S. girls have now reached parity with boys, even in high school and even for measures requiring complex problem solving,” the Wisconsin researchers said. Although girls are still underrepresented in the ranks of young math prodigies, they said, that gap is narrowing, which undermines claims that a greater prevalence of profound mathematical talent in males is biologically determined. The researchers said this and other phenomena “provide abundant evidence for the impact of sociocultural and other environmental factors on the development of mathematical skills and talent and the size, if any, of math gender gaps.”

The research council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, convened its expert panel at the request of Congress. The panel surveyed six disciplines — biology, chemistry, mathematics, civil and electrical engineering and physics — and based its analysis on interviews with faculty members at 89 institutions and data from federal agencies, professional societies and other sources.

The panel was led by Claude Canizares, a physicist who is vice president for research atM.I.T., and Dr. Sally Shaywitz of Yale Medical School, an expert on learning.

The Wisconsin researchers, Janet S. Hyde and Janet E. Mertz, studied data from 10 states collected in tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind legislation as well as data from theNational Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal testing program. Differences between girls’ and boys’ performance in the 10 states were “close to zero in all grades,” they said, even in high schools were gaps existed earlier. In the national assessment, they said, differences between girls’ and boys’ performance were “trivial.”

No scholarship tax credit programs exist in the state of Missouri, even for special needs students or students from poor families. Hopefully the continuing expansion of these programs in the country will cause Missouri to take another look at them as a means to help students from challenged backgrounds receive a quality education.

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On Tuesday President Obama sent a strong message to the country on education reform. In a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Obama outlined his policies for reforming education including charter school expansion and merit pay structures for teachers. Below are highlights of his speech.

One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. And these are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate…

But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they’re preparing our students. That isn’t good for our children, our economy, or our country.

I call on states to reform their charter rules, and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place.

That’s why we’re creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they’re needed most. That’s why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects.

“School buildings don’t belong to us. They don’t belong to the unions. School buildings belong to the community.”

This statement directly applies to the SLPS deed restrictions on closed school buildings. These deed restrictions must be lifted so that charter public schools have the opportunity to buy these buildings and reopen them as community schools. I wonder how AFT 420, local St. Louis teachers union and proponents of deed restrictions, will respond to this quote. I doubt this stong quote from Secretary Duncan will be repeated over a bullhorn to disrupt a press conference anytime soon.

Proposal made by Mr. Klein and Mr. Sharpton in the Op-Ed include increased federal support of public charter schools, performance pay structures for teachers and national standards for testing student achievement.